A typical scratch-off game card for a bingo game has a game area with a plurality of pre-printed game letters and a player area with some pre-assigned letters. The game letters in the game area are usually visible to the player, while the pre-assigned letters in the player area are usually covered by an opaque removable layer. A player purchases a scratch-off bingo game card and removes the opaque removable layer to reveal the pre-assigned letters. When the player identifies a pre-assigned letter in the player area that matches a game letter from the game area, the player marks the game letter to identify it as a matched letter. The player can mark a game letter with a pen or pencil.
However, to make marking easier for the players, the game letters are usually covered by a layer of removable material and on the top of the layer the same set of game letters are printed. The player removes the layer of removable material, generally a scratch-off coating layer, by using his fingernail or a coin. The removal of the scratch-off coating layer on the top of a game letter provides an indication that the game letter has been “called.” The player actually can feel the scratch-off coating layer when rubbing his fingernail over the lottery game card. When rubbed by a coin-or fingernail, a small amount of the scratch-off coating layer breaks into particles and collapses from the layer, thus revealing the pre-printed game letter below.
Therefore, it is desired to have a lottery game card with a protective layer that reveals game indicia without producing breakdown material and it is to such method the present application is primarily directed.